Of their first recreation again from the All-Star break, the Boston Celtics visited the Philadelphia 76ers. Typically, most individuals would anticipate a sluggish begin from each groups after such an extended break. The Celtics had different ideas.
Boston got here out firing on all cylinders, completely torching Philly 124-104. It was a full staff effort, with the scoring fairly evenly distributed. Two of the highest performances got here from Jayson Tatum and Luke Kornet, who additionally related on a couple of massive performs simply minutes aside.
With just below 10 minutes left within the second quarter, Kornet picked up a nasty cross from Paul George to kick off a quick break, getting the ball to Tatum earlier than making his approach down the court docket. George made an effort to stunt JT as he crossed half-court, however Jayson acquired off a slick underhanded cross to Luke as he was filling the lane, ending in an emphatic one-handed dunk.
They stored the connection rolling simply over a minute later, this time working within the half-court. Tatum threw a jab step to ship PG right into a Kornet display, creating time and area for him to step as much as the three-point line and faux the shot. This precipitated Guerschon Yabusele to go away Luke and step as much as JT, and because of a fast launch and roll from Luke, Tatum was in a position to drop in a pleasant bounce tempo to arrange Kornet for an additional big slam.
That wasn’t the final time the duo abused PG and Yabu. Simply after the seven-minute mark, Luke and JT have been engaged on the suitable aspect of the court docket, Kornet looking for Jayson for a handoff. After a couple of fakes from Tatum, he was in a position to shed George and obtain the cross. With PG out of the image, Yabu moved to cowl Jayson, and because of one other fast roll from Luke, JT was in a position to dump it off to him once more, this time for a layup by way of contact.
Jayson completed the sport notching his second triple double of the season, simply the fourth in his profession. He put up 15 factors, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists in 34 minutes, a +19 for the sport. Luke Kornet had a well-rounded recreation himself, with 6 factors, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists.
The Tatum-Kornet connection was extraordinarily fruitful, because it has been by way of a lot of the season. Jayson’s playmaking leap coupled with Kornet’s potential to launch himself shortly from screens and fill the lane has made for some extremely efficient performs. The Celtics don’t run pick-and-rolls fairly often relative to the remainder of the league, however I’m certain we’ll see them make the most of this duo much more sooner or later.
